Euphoria Methodos:The Five Elements & Their Constitutions

The higher frequencies of the elements are connected to special talents that we are here to bring into the world. Each one of us comes with a mission. That mission can be big or small, and all are of equal importance (just because someone has an important role doesn’t make them more important than others, the captain of the ship is as important as the crew). But the world can and will change when everyone assumes their role at the highest level possible. So, if you want to get to know yourself and others better, and to fuel yourself with greater purpose, please join us on this new quest.

Hippocrates talked about the four personality types and similarly, Traditional Chinese Medicine offers the five elements as a psychological lens through which we can better interpret ourselves and the world. In TCM the five main constitutional types are based on the theory of the five elements: fire, earth, metal, wood, and water.

Each element is defined as having a certain set of characteristics or associations. Each of us is born with all the elements, but in different percentages so that we usually have one or two that are dominant, interlinked and potentially imbalanced. This imbalance causes us emotional difficulties or blockages. By knowing and understanding our emotional framework through the prism of the elements we are given a key to greater self-awareness and can work on ourselves to achieve the greatest dividends.

TCM is also an energetic medicine which means that rather than just looking at the physical body, it looks at the underlying energetics, the flow of which directly affects a person’s Qi. So a person’s elemental constitution can also help to explain what goes on with their organ system, as each of the elements is also associated with specific organs (for example, water, January’s element is associated with the kidney and bladder).

Usually, our weakest organ system and/or our emotional response system are interlinked and will have been moulded by experiences in the early years of our life when emotional imbalances instigated by traumas or core wounds (which we may not remember or beaware of) set a template of habitual states within us and the predominance of certain values.

In short, at an early age, life will in some way pull us out of our centre so that we move from our original, innate personality and start to see through a lens with is not our own and does not belong to our authentic constitution. We then become caught in our primary emotional responses and instinctual reactions which supply the glasses through which we see the world. But if we can come into awareness of our pre-set response system, then we have an opportunity to work on bringing our authentic self to the foreground by bringing the elements into balance.

We are then more likely to be able to stand as a witness to our behavioural patterns. The gold in this is that we no longer berate ourselves for our reactions because we can show compassion and understanding towards our inner compass. As such, we no longer feel angry for feeling angry, or guilty for feeling guilty. Double emotion is what brings about toxicity. For example, if we are afraid of being afraid, we get stuck in inertia and can never  fully live our lives. With a greater understanding of our elemental constitution, we are no longer victims of our experiences.

Whilst each element comes with qualities which are diminished when the element is unbalanced, each also comes with positive emotional capacities which can be harnessed to good effect too. Take a look to the winter’s water element  and what having a water constitution means and how it can be harnessed